Dear Mohan,

This is not a disease where online consultation or remote
consultation will give you much benefit towards cure. Especially
since you have been battling with this for last ten years, disease is
deep rooted one and trying something online, is perhaps like a last
straw on the back of a camel. You have to contact a local Vaidya
only. Most treatments for this are to be undertaken under supervision
only. In grahani, even buttermilk becomes difficult to digest, then
ghee will naturally give flatulence. Your ultra-sensitive mind may
have added fuel to the fire of the disease. Rasyanas, antioxidants
can help only if body's absorbing agency (grahani) is functioning
well. Detoxifying the body does not help much when no toxins exist,
except weak grahani and sensitive mind. Even then, in order to help
you, some outline of treatment protocol is given here so that in
consultation with your present health care professional, better plan
can be evolved.

1. Grahani is the most difficult challenge for a vaidya to treat.
Most of the diseases where all three doshas become out of balance
become challenges, as the treatment remains dynamic and it can be
compared to driving on a road with pot holes or scattered obstacles.
Speed has to be very low.

2. Grahani is the part coming between small intestine and stomach.
When food comes in stomach, the action of digestive juices occurs for
about one and half hour. Thereafter food enters beginning part of
small intestine, termed as duodenum. In this disease, the efficiency
of mixing digestive juices from liver, pancreas with partially
digested food is reduced. Perhaps juices themselves have lost
digestive power(enzymes). The weakened grahani slowly keeps pushing
undigested food to small intestine. The primary reason of weakened
Grahani is weak agni. Due to weak jatahragni, food does not get
digested adequately. The deficient metabolism shades its effect on
whole body. The most affected becomes Grahani. Due to lack of
adequate nutrition, grahani weakens further. Longevity, health,
Veerya, Dhatus, physical strength, ojas, the skin tone all of these
become strong when Grahani is strong. Hence whenever the weakness of
any of these is observed, one should first check for efficiency of
Grahani.

3. With ten years suffering, you would have exahustively searched all
the knowledge about Grahani. However, for benifit of others, author
gives here brief details. The patients suffering from Grahani may
show one or more of the following symptoms, in varying intensity.
More the symptoms, more the chance that disease is Grahani.

- The motions are sometimes loose, sometimes solids. Alternate bouts
of loose motions and constipation can exist. The constipation can
build up to an extent where two to three days pass between successive
bowel movements. Sometimes there is a desire to pass motions after
meals.
- The desire to eat itself starts reducing or reduces. (Aruchi)
- There is very little natural hunger.
- The tongue shows blackish or brownish blemishes.
- Swellings on face or feet is sometimes seen.
- Patient experiences a dizziness or blanking due to weakness.
- Many patients complain of headache, especially in morning.
- There is a weight loss. In some patients, weight loss may not be
seen, but body looses strength, and keeps loosing progressively.
- The black under-eye circles increase progressively, since these
are indicators of dhatu strength.
- Some patients show stiffness in back or waist, which causes
difficulties in getting up or walking. One such patient was unable to
do exercises given at atbsnr.com as he could not raise legs at all.
with some special treatment this was solved.
- Loose motions, IBS and Grahani, all these three diseases are
digestive disorders. Hence they are closely related. But these are
different diseases in ayurveda. Sometimes the line of demarcation is
diffuse, and vaidya's skill is at stake.

4. Lifestyle:The primary reason for this disease to occur are
gratification (or temptation) of tongue, termed Jivhaloulyam in
Sanskrit. Missing proper times of lunch and dinner, taking food at
odd times, at all places, eating before previous food is digested,
eating during illness, disregarding restrictions during illness
(especially diaorrhea, where people just take one or two capsules of
allopathy, stop motions and start eating, this can invite Grahani
disorder). Author came across a number of mothers, who despite
instructions to restrict to simple food, gave something extra to
children! That is mothers worrying heart! Disease is aggravated by
love! Hence in this disease, food and lifestyle becomes very
important.

5. The trauma or depression increases the disease in this case. Hence
adoption of meditation, philosophy in lifestyle is most important.
This is the reason, this disease is progressing in Indian software
consultants posted abroad, who have to cook and/or eat
junk/fast/readymix foods. Now if there is insecurity of contract,
tension in the work place, tension/anxiety of green card, these are
sure invitations to Grahani. Despite probable non-agreement by modern
vaidyas, in the limited experience of this author, chanting of a
mantra gives inner strenth to a patient, he is able to observe food
restriction to each word. You have liberally stated that tonics of
ayurveda, allopathy and homeopathy have failed for you! This author
requests you to reply and say whether anybody gave you this type of
food restrictions and also use spiritual part of ayurveda. The
benifits of chantings, yoga etc are now getting proven by modern
science doctors! e.g. see:
http://www.yogapoint.com/info/research5.htm

6. Food: If there is no hunger and no desire to eat, fasting should
be carried out in the beginning stage of the treatment. How long, let
Vaidya determine. After the fast, start food by taking only
buttermilk in the beginning. Buttermilk is the best and most
important medicine for this disease. Take fresh curd which is not
sour at all, add four times water and make buttermilk. (The water to
be added to buttermilk must be boiled down to 25% earlier). Take it
as soon as made, do not store it even for 10 minutes. You can add a
little cumeen seed powder, coriander seed powder and saindhav salt to
buttermilk. Green coriander better than seed powder. Till Grahani is
cured, keep drinking buttermilk in place of water. In this disease
Goat's milk, curd, buttermilk and ghee made from Goat milk work as
medicine. Knowing the seriousness of the disease, sometimes, farmers
gave fresh goat milk "free" for such patients out of compassion.
(Author feels ayurveda was born in India due to such people).

7. The list of foods here is most restrictive. One can go to "light
to digest" solid food slowly, Thus cooked water of rice (stored at
least six months), cooked water of green gram stored similarly can be
taken after hunger develops a little. You can add coriander, lemon
juice, cumin seed powder if taste develops. As hunger increases,
increase quantity of solid food. Wheat, peas, Bengal gram, black gram
are all difficult to digest. So items made from them should not be
eaten till pain or indigestion persist. Mushrroms, bottle gourd,
pumpkin, drum stick, yam(suran), potato, cucumber cabbage are better
avoided. Green mango, grapes should be avoided. One can take a leafy
vegetable known as Tandulja, Tandali, Pandi. (in Marathi),: Chumlar-
sag, Cholai-ka-bhaji (in Hindi ) Champa-natiya, Lal-champa-natiya,
Adro (Bengali): Doggali-kura. Rajasthani: Sag chaulai(Telgu).
Similarly sesame oil, curry made from steaming raw banana, fruits
such as Poemgranate, black berries can be eaten. Sugracane, coconut,
milk, honey should be avoided. Beetle nut, smoking, chewing panbide
increases the disease. If you are taking fruit salad or payasam made
from milk, do not take Kadhi made from buttermilk in the same meal.
And taking anything heavy to digest even once will bring you back to
square one just like snake and ladder game.

8. Lifestyle changes: Do not over exert and move in hot sun Do not
suppress calls of nature. Do not use nasya or medicines to be put as
eye drops. Sleep well, do not stay awake. No sex. Grahani patients
loose libido anyway. Do not bath more than once a day.

9. Treatment: Take a earthen pot made from mud but not calcined
(roasted) in fire. Make a mixture of Chitrak(Plumbago zeylanica),
Piparimul, Javkhar, Panchlavan, Sunth, black pepper, piper longum,
asfoetida, ajwain and chavak.( Piper Chaba ) (proportion to be
decided according to constitution of patient) Add the juice of
Pomegranate and Bijora fruit (Citrus medica ) and make a paste. Apply
this paste inside the earthen pot and let dry. Keep such pots ready
for use. Take one of them and add milk and a little buttermilk for
makig curd (yogurt). The curd sets in 4-5 hours. As soon as sets,
make a buttermilk by adding water as described in para 6. Drink this
buttermilk and add fresh milk to make new curd. Keep five or six pots
to be used in rotation. As the herbal coating goes away, use fresh
pot having the dried coating. According to Acharya Bhavaprakash, this
treatment digests undigested ama and increases Jatharagni. The
formula for mixture of herbs can be fine tuned by vaidya for each
patient. The herbs used herein can also be made into a tablet and
tablet ingested with buttermilk; but then the efficacy reduces, as
Lactobasillus Acidophylus bacteria in the curd make herbs in the
paste partially digested that effect has to occur in stomach now. The
earthen pot procedure is used by old vaidyas even today in some
villages. Many such vaidya-made medicines are now available only in
villages/towns and most of modern vaidyas use pharmacy made
medicines.

10. Paste of Bael [Aegle Marmelos (Correa)]: Take the powder made by
drying unripened Bael fruit and sunth(ginger) powder both in equal
proportion, and add jaggery twice by weight. Make a paste by
grinding. Take this paste 1 tsp or as advised by Vaidya, and drink
buttermilk (made in pragraph 9) over this. This paste is claimed to
cure even a very aggravated Grahani too, according to senior vaidyas.
You can make the paste from fresh semi-ripened fruit too, if
available. Please note that this paste is in addition to buttermilk
of paragraph 9. Also, if someone tells you that Pharmacy made
Bilvavleha, an avaleha of Bael can substitute this, you should not
take since nowadays such avaleha may contain sugar syrup or honey,
both are to be avoided in the treatment of Grahani. Of course if
someone can make this avaleha using jaggery, check that it contains
sunth also. Other than these two, various formulations such as ras-
parpati, panchmrut-parpati, suvarana-parpati, medicines made from
marking nut, Kavyad Ras etc are possible, but can be taken according
to directions of Vaidya. These need to be advised depending on the
intensity of disease, patients constitution, location etc. Avoid
self-medication but meditation to know self is highly desirable.

Dr Bhate

--- In ayurvedaonline@yahoogroups.com, Mohan Hegde <anmohiey@...>
wrote:
>
> Esteemed Vaidyas and Pandits,
>
> I am seeking profesional counselling and advise on my physical
challenges involving mandagni (malabsorption) and grahini (Irritating
Bowel Syndrome).
>
> These have been associated with me for last more than 10 years now.
This long blessing has left me emaciated and fragile. I am housing
ultra sensitive mind which always keeps on agitating since from my
child hood.
>
> My digestive system is very weak such that even very light foods
are not digested. Ghee (clarified butter) of one spoon intake also
leaves me with flatulence and constipation. Further it develops
throat infection, feverishness and body pain.
>
> I seldom experience vomitting and loose motion. I am disturbed
with 'tridosha'. Any medicine preparation taken to boost jataragni,
leaves more dryness in stomach and constipation further helps me to
go through nerve pain and feverishness. So is the case with almost
all tonics of ayurveda, allopathy and homeopathy.